The present invention relates to catheter assemblies, and more particularly to protective coverings for catheters.
An assortment of catheters have been proposed in the past for use on patients. In most cases such catheters must be available in a sterile condition at the time of use, and, accordingly, they are placed in suitable packages which are subjected to sterilization procedures in order to render the packaged catheter aseptic. In addition, it is desirable to further protect the shafts of certain catheters, such as Foley or urinary catheters, in the package. This follows since such catheters may develop static electricity and their shafts may attract lint or dust when the package is opened at the time of use, and since it is desirable to protect the catheter shafts from contamination during handling.
It would thus be desirable to place a sheath or sleeve of plastic material over the catheter shaft in order to accomplish this purpose. However, such a procedure has been found to be very difficult in practice, since the usual material of the sleeves provides an undue amount of friction and resistance against placement of the usual catheter shaft between the closely spaced walls of the sleeve, e.g. a sleeve made from a low density polyethylene and a catheter made from latex or a silicone material. Normally, placement of such a sleeve over the catheter shaft has been carried out by hand, and it has been found extremely difficult to insert such a catheter shaft into a sleeve which would fit relatively snugly about the shaft. Accordingly, it has been found necessary to use sleeves which have an unduly large size relative the diameter of the catheter shaft, although the covering procedure is still tedious when attempted without the aid of accessory devices, such as blowing machines to open the sleeves.